The opening scene, a dream sequence prior to the vaudeville routines which follow, is what makes this film famous. In it Keaton plays everyone in a theatre simultaneously (through multiple exposures). He is the band leader, all its members, the dancers on the stage and everyone in the audience.
Reviewer:No School Like The Old School
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July 20, 2018 Subject:
Starring Buster Keaton, Buster Keaton, and Buster Keaton
Funny film with Buster Keaton in the lead, and for the first few minutes, every other part. After waking from his dream where he is practically everyone,
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he goes back to work as a stage hand. He accidentally messes up some of the performances, even having a monkey escape from the theater, with Keaton himself having to fill in for that act. After monkeying around, Buster Keaton comes to fall in love with another performer, who happens to have an identical twin sister. The slapstick is pretty good in this one, and there's enough originality in it to separate from other comedies of the time. 4 stars.
Reviewer:cynthiagabre
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July 16, 2012 (edited)
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Rights on the use of the playhouse material.
Hello my name is Cynthia Gabrenja, I'm argentinian and I'ld like to know if there's a chance to get the rights on your material, It's only 2 seconds from
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the film for a non-profit tv documentary production. My doubt is the following, as it says the material is for educational and research purposes only and they are public domain use, I need to certify (for the network broadcast) this material is to be use freely (always on the behalf of educational purposes as the documentary is for young people about drug use. Is there a chance for you to tell me if the use and placement of some of your material in the documentary is possible? Could I have some sort of document use lease about that image?. We'll be thanking your production company for the lease on this material. Hope to hear soon from you again. Thanks. Cynthia.
Reviewer:zaziemetro
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December 18, 2011 Subject:
Hilarious!
One of the best of Keaton's short films!
Reviewer:1iberal
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May 8, 2009 Subject:
The Play House (1921)
Reviewer:SquareEyed
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January 28, 2006 Subject:
Cynic Won Over
I had heard of Buster Keaton and had seen him in a brief cameo in Sunset Boulevarde but had never watched any of the films he made in his prime. The concept
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of Keaton playing everyone in a theatre simultaneously (through multiple exposures)tickled my fancy so I chose this as my introduction to the Keaton style. I'm a cynic by nature and expected very little from this film as many silents have left me cold and have not aged well. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find my self chuckling loudly at many sequences. The short running length might just be the catalyst to entice people to invest a little time to discover this film legend.Image quality is pretty washed out in the smaller downloads so I chose the MPEG2 (657 MB) version which had greater detail. Gotta check out more of his films...